Joe Biden Beatrice Gormley (classic children's novels txt) 📖

from the older senator. After all, Eastland had served in Congress since 1929. And Joe had a talent for finding the issues that he agreed on with his political opponents, in order to work with them.

Besides, Joe liked Senator Eastland’s dry sense of humor. According to Eastland, the most significant change in the Senate, in his long career, was air-conditioning. He explained that in the old days, the Senate Chamber had skylights in the ceiling. So in the spring, the chamber would heat up like a greenhouse, and the Senate would adjourn for the summer. “Then we put in air conditionin’, stayed year round, and ruined America.”

In spite of friendly outreach from his colleagues, Joe had to force himself to plod through the days. He was determined to do his job in the Senate, but he took no joy in it. He existed in a dull, numb state, broken by stabs of unbearable pain. His purpose each day was only to get through it and go back home to Beau and Hunter.

Joe Biden’s first appearance on the floor of the Senate Chamber should have been a moment of high triumph. That morning, one of the Capitol policemen stepped forward, grinning, to congratulate him. “Senator Biden, do you remember me?” It was the same officer who, almost ten years before, had seized an unescorted college student named Joe and hauled him down to the basement for questioning. Now he told Biden, “I’m happy you’re back.”

Sadly, at this point Joe Biden could not be happy about much of anything. His chief of staff, Wes Barthelmes, became concerned that Joe was eating lunch by himself in his office every day. Barthelmes had to explain that it was part of Biden’s job to join his fellow senators for lunch. Lunch in the Senate wasn’t just a meal; it was a chance to get to know the people he had to work with. He needed to establish those personal relationships, sooner rather than later.

Normally, Joe Biden was a natural social animal. He loved meeting new people, getting to know them, making friends. And he understood perfectly well what his chief of staff was saying. But these days, he didn’t want to be around people who would either pity him or avoid him. He just wanted to stay in his office and spend his lunchtime calling home.

After a few weeks, Biden did allow Barthelmes to take him down to the dining room in the Dirksen building. There his chief of staff spotted Senator John McClellan of Arkansas, the chair of the powerful Appropriations Committee. Barthelmes pushed Biden to go over and introduce himself.

McClellan, like everyone else in the Senate, had heard about Joe’s tragic loss. But he didn’t either pity Joe or try to avoid him. “Oh, you’re the guy from Delaware? Lost your wife and kid, huh?”

Joe stood dumbstruck by the harsh words. The older senator added, “Only one thing to do. Bury yourself in work.”

As Joe found out, McClellan knew what he was talking about. Early in his political career, his wife had died of spinal meningitis. Several years later, a son had died of the same disease. And later, two more of his sons had died.

Joe Biden would never get to be close friends with the much older McClellan, but his blunt talk gave Joe a little perspective on his grief. And he learned that there were other senators struggling with personal tragedy. The wife of Senator Birch Bayh of Indiana was suffering from breast cancer, which would kill her several years later. Senator Stuart Symington of Missouri had lost his wife the year before.

Meanwhile, Majority Leader Mike Mansfield was still looking out for Joe Biden. He asked the young senator to come by his office once a week, to report on how he was settling into the Senate. Although Mansfield, as leader, was responsible for bringing freshman senators along, Biden knew he was getting special treatment. “He was taking my pulse,” Biden later said wryly, as if he were a patient in a hospital.

Senator Hubert Humphrey, also looking out for Biden, knew that Joe was especially interested in foreign relations. Joe had hoped to be given a place on the prestigious Senate Foreign Relations Committee, but he was too new to the Senate for that.

However, there were other opportunities to travel abroad. Humphrey made sure that Biden was included in a delegation to a conference in Oxford, England. To top it off, Humphrey arranged for Joe’s brother Jimmy to fly over to join him, and then take Joe on a five-day European vacation.

Jimmy joked that he was a “Senate wife” for Joe. He often rode the commuter train to Washington with his brother, to keep him company for the day. On weekends, Joe’s friend Jack Owens would spend evenings with him, staying up late and talking. In Wilmington and in Washington, there was a strong network supporting Joe.

The first six months were up, and Joe Biden stayed in the Senate. He took on more responsibility for his party, especially campaigning for other candidates. Senators have six-year terms, but members of the House of Representatives have to run for reelection every two years.

So there were always a number of campaigns going on. There were always many candidates who needed help getting votes and raising money. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee sent Biden out on long speaking tours, covering the United States from Vermont to Hawaii.

In a way, it was a relief for Joe to travel. He hated to leave Beau and Hunter for these trips, but he could see that they were becoming more relaxed, more confident that he would always come back to them. And he was leaving them with a close and loving family. The boys’ aunt Valerie took care of them. Their uncle Frank was always around, and their Biden grandparents not far away.

As for himself, Joe Biden slept better when he was on the road. The North Star house, his and Neilia’s dream house, was now